Slideshow
Fund flows: Who's the big winner YTD?

If advisors and investors vote with their wallets, then passive funds have won the financial elections of 2017. And there won’t be a recount.

We looked at the 20 largest net fund flows year-to-date; 12 were index funds. In money terms, though, passive won a more decisive victory: Index funds took in 80% of the $256 billion total that advisors and investors forked over to these 20 funds so far this year.

Consider the magnitude of these numbers. If $256 billion were one company’s revenue stream, it would rank #2 on the Fortune 500 — behind only Walmart. In fact, each of the top 16 fund flows are big enough that they would rank on the Fortune 500 individually, although many would be near the bottom of the list.

Scroll through to see the largest year-to-date net fund flows, as well as three-year annualized returns for each fund and expense ratios. All data from Morningstar.